Events
Upcoming
30 Apr 2025
Film Festival onf Technology and Ethics
Event organised by Lukas Walker and Sunniva Flück, Debug Society, VIS
Thought-provoking yet entertaining movies and a space for a discussion afterwards. If you feel like reflecting on technology, science, engineering and our role in it all, this is the event for you!
Time: 18:30 - 22:00
Language: English
Location: Food&Lab in CAB
01 May 2025
Film Festival onf Technology and Ethics
Event organised by Lukas Walker and Sunniva Flück, Debug Society, VIS
Thought-provoking yet entertaining movies and a space for a discussion afterwards. If you feel like reflecting on technology, science, engineering and our role in it all, this is the event for you!
Time: 18:30 - 22:00
Language: English
Location: Food&Lab in CAB
02 May 2025
Film Festival onf Technology and Ethics
Event organised by Lukas Walker and Sunniva Flück, Debug Society, VIS
Thought-provoking yet entertaining movies and a space for a discussion afterwards. If you feel like reflecting on technology, science, engineering and our role in it all, this is the event for you!
Time: 18:30 - 22:00
Language: English
Location: Food&Lab in CAB
13 May 2025
Beyond Roll Call: Inferring Politics from Text
Prof. Dr. David Blei (Columbia University in the City of New York)
This talk explores two methods of enhancing ideal point models, which quantify political positions from roll call votes, by incorporating political texts from bills and lawmaker communications to improve the accuracy and scope of political position estimation.
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Language: English
Location: ETH AI Center
20 May 2025
Designing for People, AI and Online Research
Dr. Daniel M. Russell (University of Zurich)
This presentation examines the impact of Large Language Models (LLMs) on information seeking, particularly whether they are displacing search engines, and explores public understanding and perceptions of AI-generated information quality, drawing on 30 years of UX research to anticipate future changes in knowledge practices.
Time: 11:30 - 12:30
Language: German
Location: ETH AI Center
Past key events and highlights
Bioethics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Navigating Opportunities, Challenges and Responsibilities
In December, 2024, Prof. Effy Vayena gives the annual George W. Gay Lecture in Medical Ethics at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics.
Conflict-Event Prediction for UN Peacekeeping
UN-ETH Partnership and Project
On 17 May 2024, Switzerland organised an ‘Arria-formula’ meeting of the UN Security Council to explore how artificial intelligence could revolutionize UN Peacekeeping. Dr. Sascha Langenbach of the ETH Center for Security Studies (CSS) briefed the UN Security Council on the capacity of machine-learning tools to assist with information processing in UN peace operations.
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This event is part of a larger joint research project between the UN Operations and Crisis Centre (UNOCC) and ETH Zurich's Center for Security Studies (CSS) that aims to explore the feasibility of an event-prediction system for UN peacekeeping. The project combines machine learning with event records collected by UN peacekeepers so as to lay the foundation for a software platform that could support data processing and decision-making procedures within UN peace missions.
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The PIs of this project include Prof. Andreas Wenger (CSS), Prof. Menna El-Assady (Department of Computer Science), and Dr. Sascha Langenbach (CSS).
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Read more by visiting the:
- Briefing at the UN Security Council
- UN and ETH Zurich Partnership
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As If Human: Living in the Age of Intelligent Machines
On October 23, 2024, Prof. Sir Nigel Shadbolt, a leading researcher in Artificial Intelligence and Professor of Computing Science at the University of Oxford, in conversation with Prof. Dr. Margarita Boenig-Liptsin from ETH, discussed AI's history, current advancements, and the challenges and opportunities presented by today's and future AI systems.
Social Artificial Intelligence
On October 16, 2024, Prof. Nicholas Christakis from Yale University, in dialogue with Prof. Vayena, discussed the implications of integrating artificial intelligence into human social networks, focusing not on the more studied human-machine interactions, but rather asking several key questions around broader implications:
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How might AI reshape human-human interactions and group dynamics?
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Can our understanding of social network structure and function help assess the impact and ethical implications of social AI on human society?
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Given the potential of 'dumb AI' to create or reinforce systemic problems, to what extent can we govern it?
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Assuming we can address issues like nudging, manipulation, transparency, and deception, and use AI tools to encourage collective action, is this the only or the best way to foster human collaboration and coordination?
Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI
Book Talk and Panel Discussion
On June 6, 2024, Prof. Dr. Urs Gasser from TU Munich gave a talk on his book "Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI." Prof. Gasser's presentation, followed by a panel discussion, highlighted the need for human-centered "guardrails" in the digital era.
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The panel featured experts including Prof. Dr. Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen), Jeremy Rollison (Microsoft), Lukas Walker and Dr. Sara Kijewski (ETH Zurich), moderated by Prof. Dr. Effy Vayena (ETH Zurich). The discussion emphasized the importance of balancing technology with human values to create a more equitable society.
With Prof. Dr. Urs Gasser (TU Munich)
Featuring Prof. Dr. Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen), Jeremy Rollison (Microsoft), Lukas Walker (ETH Zurich) and Dr. Sara Kijewski (ETH Zurich)
Featuring Prof. Dr. Urs Gasser (TU Munich), Prof. Dr. Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen), Jeremy Rollison (Microsoft), Lukas Walker (ETH Zurich) and Dr. Sara Kijewski (ETH Zurich)
With Prof. Dr. Urs Gasser (TU Munich)